British Airways suspended operations of its Concorde on Tuesday, August 15, a move analysts say signals the demise of the sleek supersonic luxury jet.

British Airways (BA) said it suspended its Concorde flights after U.K. and French aviation authorities said they would recommend on Wednesday that the flying certificate of the supersonic plane be suspended.

"BA's first concern is always safety. All our aircraft are subject to continuing and exhaustive safety checks," British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington said.

BA had been carrying on its London-New York services even though Air France had suspended its supersonic operations following the July 25 Air France Concorde crash which claimed 113 lives.

The airline said it was too early to say whether the supersonic planes, which began service in 1976, would every fly again.

"Its too soon to speculate," said BA spokesman John Lampl." We wont know anything until the morning when the British CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) tells us what the new information is."

But analysts are beginning to hear the death rattle of this technological dinosaur.

"They will have to heavily discount airfare or hope people wont remember all of this," said Richard Aboulafia, director of aviation at the Teal Group, an aviation consultancy in Fairfax, Virginia. "Unfortunately the people who fly on the Concorde are sharp and have long memories."

He said there was one historical precedent for an airliner having been pulled because of its airworthiness and then put back in service. The Federal Aviation Administration withdrew the flying rights for McDonnell Douglas Corps DC-10 following an accident in Chicago that killed 275 people in 1979.

Although the same scenario could happen with the Concorde, Aboulafia said that both British Airways and Air France will have an uphill battle with fliers perception of the aircraft.

"Remember, this aircraft still has 1950s and 1960s technology," he said.

"What the British authorities have done today is to say that the plane cannot fly, which indicates to me what they heard from French authorities was probably catastrophic" said Joe Brancatelli, a columnist for biz.travel.com.